Old School Becomes Classroom on History : Mojave Desert: Restored building in Goffs, Calif., houses conservation-minded RV group and its publishing house.

For 23 years, a one-room, mission-style, stucco building in northeastern San Bernardino County served as the sole schoolhouse for the children of area homesteaders, miners, ranchers and railroad workers.

Closed in 1937 after most everyone moved away, the abandoned school building is now the only remaining example of the 20 small rural schools that existed from the late 1800s through the 1930s in the sparsely populated East Mojave National Scenic Area.

Ten years ago, the old schoolhouse--located in Goffs, (population 30) 35 miles northwest of Needles--was condemned by county officials. The roof and east wall were gone. The rest of the building was riddled with bullet holes and plans were being made to tear it down.

But rather than see it destroyed, retired local cowboy Jim Wold and his wife, Bertha, bought the school from a private owner and spent five years fixing it up. Last year, they sold it to Friends of the Mojave Road, a conservation-minded recreational vehicle organization, which transformed it into a combination desert cultural center and group headquarters.

And through the publishing arm of the group, Tales of the Mojave Road, guide books are being produced that will help new generations of desert visitors learn about the 790 miles of unimproved trails that zigzag through the Mojave Desert--historic trails that one conservationist called the largest artifact in America.

The effort to save the 1,200-square-foot schoolhouse originally was begun by the Wolds, who lived in the building while refurbishing it.

But they became too ill to complete the task and sold the school last February to Dennis Casebier, chairman of the 650-member Friends group.

The group’s publishing arm, which is now housed at the school, has issued 18 hardcover books, five of them guides to the desert trails.

Approved by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, which administers much of the Mojave Desert, the guidebooks for four-wheel-drive vehicles are used to explore desert country on abandoned 19th-Century wagon roads, cattle trails, railroad rights of way and military routes as well as abandoned mining, homesteader and ranch roads. The guidebooks are sold at BLM Visitor Centers and by the Friends of the Mojave Road, Goffs School, Goffs, Calif., 92332.

“Nothing is disturbed. No signs are posted,” Casebier, 56, said of the trails. “Natural formations and objects on the desert are used as markers for visitors to follow as indicated in the guidebooks.”

The trails lead to old mining camps, 19th-Century Army outposts, abandoned homestead settlements and World War II training sites.

During World War II, the old school was reopened briefly and used as a PX for 3,000 soldiers stationed at the outskirts of Goffs at one of Gen. George S. Patton’s desert warfare camps.

The guidebooks present the history of the area with descriptions of flora, fauna and geology.

“Moving into the old Goffs School places the headquarters of the Friends of the Mojave Road in the center of our activity,” said Casebier, a historian who has spent 30 years collecting information and photographs about the cultural history of the Mojave Desert.

“Old-timers scattered across the desert for miles around come to the schoolhouse for oral history interviews and share historic photographs we copy for our archives.”

Casebier said there are more than 10,000 historical photographs of the area on file in the schoolhouse.

Casebier also is compiling a history of Goffs School. He already has interviewed a dozen former students, including Goffs residents Lenna Swain, 73, and her sister Lillian Emmett, 77.

“The school always had just one teacher for kindergarten-to-eighth-grade students who totaled 30 at the most,” Casebier said. “I would like to hear from as many former students as possible.”

Friends of the Mojave Road gets its name from an earlier Casebier project.

He spent 10 years documenting and rediscovering the old Mojave Road, the main wagon road from the Colorado River to Barstow that was established in 1860 and abandoned in 1871. It was used by Indians, soldiers, immigrant groups and stagecoaches.

From time to time during the year, the Friends sponsors RV caravans traveling desert trails with Casebier and others lecturing about the sites via CB radio.

“Our group makes every effort to protect the desert,” said Casebier. “We are conservationists dedicated to respect and preserve the desert not to abuse it in any way.”